Eugenio Landesio facts for kids

Eugenio Landesio was an Italian painter who lived from 1810 to 1879. He learned from a Hungarian landscape painter named Károly Markó the Elder. Landesio became very important in Mexico because of his time teaching at the Academy of San Carlos. He greatly influenced future Mexican landscape painters, like José María Velasco.

Early Life and Art Training

Eugenio Landesio was born in 1810 in a small village called Altessano, near Turin in Italy. His family were silversmiths, but Eugenio loved drawing from a very young age. His father soon realized that Eugenio was meant to be a painter.

As a child, Landesio lived in Rome. He started studying landscape painting with a French artist named Amédée Bourgeois. Later, he became a student of the famous Hungarian landscape painter Károly Markó the Elder.

Arriving in Mexico

El Puente de San Antonio en el camino de San Ángel junto a Panzacola, painted in 1855.

Like his teacher, Landesio was a Romantic landscape painter. This means his paintings often showed beautiful, calm, and sometimes dreamy scenes. People in Mexico first saw his work when the Academy of San Carlos bought some of his paintings.

In January 1855, Landesio was invited to Mexico by a Spanish painter named Pelegrí Clavé. Clavé was in charge of the figure painting section at the Academy of San Carlos. Landesio went to Mexico to teach classes on landscape painting, how to draw things to look far away (perspective), and basic design.

Landesio wrote three important books about landscape painting. These books were used as textbooks for students at the Academy of San Carlos:

• The Foundations of the Draftsman Artist and Painter (1866)
• General or Landscape Painting and Perspective in the Academy of San Carlos (1867)
• Excursion to the Cacahuamilpa Cavern and Ascent to the Crater of Popocatépetl (1868)

In 1873, there was a rule that teachers at the Academy had to agree to certain laws. Eugenio Landesio did not agree with these rules and had to leave his teaching job. He wanted his best student, José María Velasco, to take over his position. However, another important person, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, chose a different artist named Salvador Murillo. This caused a public disagreement between Landesio and Altamirano.

His Impact on Art

Hacienda de Colón, painted between 1857 and 1858.

Eugenio Landesio had a big and positive impact on landscape painting in Mexico. Many people believe that organized landscape painting as a regular subject in Mexico started with him. He had many talented students, including José Jiménez, Gregorio Dumaine, Luis Coto, and Salvador Murillo.

His most famous student was José María Velasco. Velasco continued Landesio's work and became the most important landscape painting teacher for the next generation of artists in Mexico.

Landesio was a very skilled teacher. He taught his students to break down a landscape into smaller parts, like skies, trees, land, water, and buildings. Then, they would study each part carefully before putting them all back together to create a beautiful painting. He taught his students both in the studio and by painting outdoors in nature.

Landesio also taught that landscapes have two main parts: "localities" and "episodes." "Localities" are the different parts of the natural scene itself, like the sky or the trees. "Episodes" are the people, animals, or stories that give the painting a special meaning or tell a story.

Famous Works

Some of Eugenio Landesio's most important paintings include:

• The Valley of Mexico from the Hill of Tenayo (1870), which is part of the Museo Nacional de Arte's collection.
• Patio of the Hacienda de Regla (1857).

Images for kids

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  Page 20 of Excursión a la Caverna de Cacahuamilpa y ascensión al Cráter del Popocatépetl.

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  Page 48 of Excursión a la Caverna de Cacahuamilpa y ascensión al Cráter del Popocatépetl.

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  Page 50 of Excursión a la Caverna de Cacahuamilpa y ascensión al Cráter del Popocatépetl.

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  La hacienda de Colón (The hacienda of Columbus) (1857 - 1858)

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  Antesacristía del convento de San Francisco (Anteacristy of the convent of San Francisco) (1855)

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  El Valle de México desde el cerro de Tenayo (The Valley of Mexico from the hill of Tenay) (1870)

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  San Juan en la Isla de Patmos (San Juan in the island of Patmos)

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  Patio de la Hacienda de Regla (Courtyard of the Hacienda de Regla) (1857) Picture of the collection of Museo Soumaya

See also

In Spanish: Eugenio Landesio para niños